LAHORE: Taking notice of difficulties being faced by the farmers to get urea fertilizer on government prescribed rates, the Punjab agriculture department has directed all the district administrations to ensure sale/distribution of fertilizer in presence of the representatives of district/tehsil administration and agriculture department.

“Further, fertilizer will be distributed only from 9:00am to 5:00pm and no fertilizer will be sold by the dealers after 5:00pm,” said a directive issued by the agriculture department the other day.

This is called ‘supervisory sale’ and the procedure or SOP already exists in law and the department has decided to enforce it strictly to resolve the hardships being faced by the farmers, said sources in the provincial agriculture department.

They said the government is extending double subsidy to fertilizer manufacturing industry in shape of subsidy on feed gas and then subsidy on GST and it wanted that it should reach the farmers at the decided rate.

The notification further said that fertilizer shall be sold openly @Rs1,768 per 50kg per bag. DG Agriculture (Extension & AR) Dr Anjum Ali while talking to the Business Recorder said that they were receiving complaints that in some cases trawler carrying fertilizer bags were stopped on way to the dealers and full quantity is not being sold to farmers. He said that is why the department has decided to ensure strict compliance on SOPs of distribution of fertilizer that too in day light only.

He said that criminal proceeding will be initiated against the fertilizer dealers found involved in sale of fertilizer at night or in absence of district/tehsil administration and agriculture department to ensure that required amount of urea should reach the growers for a better yield.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021